… Stoll lone new face
NATIONAL Under-19 left-arm fast bowler continues to rise through the ranks of local cricket, following his inclusion in Guyana’s 14-man squad for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Caribbean Twenty20 competition next month. The 18-year-old Stoll who represented Guyana over the past two years in the WICB/TLC Under-19 tournament, bowled impressively in the just concluded Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Carib Beer/Pepsi-sponsored four-team T20 tournament which was won by defending champions Cellink Berbice.
But while Stoll is the lone new face in the squad, opener Sewnarine Chattergoon has played four Test matches for the West Indies where he averaged 18.14 with a highest score of 46.
Chattergoon, who was overlooked by the selection committee for the WICB Regional 50 overs tournament two months ago, last played for Guyana in the Airtel Champions League in South Africa in September.
His opening partners Travis Dowlin and Richard Ramdeen have been included along with dependable West Indies middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul and West Indies ‘A’ left-arm orthodox spinner Veerasammy Permaul.
The core of the squad who will be led by inspirational skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan is made up of players who represented Guyana in the Champions League in South Africa, minus Lennox Cush (overlooked) and Paul Wintz (injured).
Guyana will open her defence of the title, won last year with a nail-biting one-wicket victory over Barbados at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, against Regional powerhouse Jamaica, who had defeated them by one run in the 2008 Stanford 20/20 tournament.
At their first physical fitness session held at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Sarwan called on his teammates (minus Chanderpaul who was absent due to jet lag) to understand and execute their individual roles more, ensuring Guyana get back to the pinnacle of Regional cricket.
“Most of you guys are no longer junior members of the team, as you have been around four to five years, so you are no longer babies, but tried, tested and proven adults hence you should know what your roles are within the team on a day like today.
“Recently, we have been doing badly in both 50-over and four-day cricket, while our performance at T20 has kept us in the reckoning.”
He continued, “I think it is time we step up to the plate and take our performance in the two forms of the game up another level. No more must we have people talking about Guyana depending on the Dowlins, Chanderpauls, Sarwans, Chattergoons and Deonarines, in the batting and the Permauls and Bishoos with the bowling, but their total team effort.
“If the selectors did not believe in you, you would not have been here commencing this camp today and I think it’s time we buckle down and get more serious with our cricket as we all have the capabilities of performing exceedingly well and making our country proud.
“We have an early start to the 2011 Regional season, with our first game in the Caribbean T20 being on the 10th in Antigua and I think it is only fair that we put our heads down as a team and go out there, hit the ground running from day one and retain the T20 title.
“Don’t let us duplicate our performance in 2008 where we lost out to Jamaica in the semifinals of a T20 tournament, but rather go one better and become the first team in the West Indies to retain their T20 title. I know we can and I believe we can do it as a team.”
The full squad reads: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Travis Dowlin, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Christopher Barnwell, Jonathan Foo, Royston Crandon, Devendra Bishoo, Esaun Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine, Veerasammy Permaul, Darwin Christian, Steven Jacobs and Richard Ramdeen.
The standbys are: Leon Johnson, Assad Fudadin, Anthony Bramble, Kellon Carmichael, Zaheer Mohammed and Shemroy Barrington.